Women in Genesis – Tough Choices

Let’s take a brief glimpse at some of the women in Genesis.
We can learn lessons from the choices each of them made.

Eve
The mother of all living – Genesis 3:20
Ate of the forbidden fruit – Genesis 3:6
Consequences – sin and death entered the world
Immediately – Lost her home (the Garden of Eden)
Later – Her son was murdered by his brother – guilt, shame, regret
Our sin doesn’t affect only us.
It affects those around us.

Noah’s Wife
Genesis 8:18
Chose to follow her husband when all the world thought he was talking foolishness
Reward – Salvation
Physical salvation – a picture of our spiritual salvation
She was one of the eight people saved from the flood by getting into the ark.

Sarah
Genesis 12:1-5
God told her husband to leave their home and go to a land that He would show him. Sarah followed her husband
Reward – She entered the promised land

Genesis 16:2
Sarah gave her maid to her husband so he could have a son.
Decided if God wanted Abraham to have a son, she was going to have to make it happen.
Have to look at Hagar to see end result

Genesis 18, Hebrews 11:11
Sarah laughs in her heart when she hears God’s plan for her to conceive a child in her old age (and her barren)
Personal moment with God
Faith-booster moment. God knew Sarah laughed in her heart even though she did not laugh out loud.
Life is our good and bad choices. Our blessings and consequences are intermingled. Can we still have joy? Yes. Can God still use us? Absolutely.

Hagar
Genesis 16:4,9
When she saw that she had conceived, she despised Sarah. Sarah goes to Abraham with her problem. Abraham said Do with her as you please. Sarah dealt “hardly” with her and Hagar fled. An angel comes to Hagar and said Return and Submit
Future of Ishmael – a generation of enemies of God
Philistines, Iran/Iraq, Pakistan

Lot’s Daughters
Genesis 19:30-38
Got their father drunk so they could sleep with him and have children
Results: They raised up enemies of God – Moabites and Ammonites

Rebekah
Abraham sent his servant to get a wife for his son
Genesis 24:58
Rebekah, will you go with this man? Yes
Entered the promised land
Genesis 27
Deceived her husband. God had said the older son would serve the younger. If God wanted this to happen, she was going to have to make it happen.
Never saw her son again
Surely must have damaged her relationship with her husband

Leah and Rachel – sisters – Both were married to Jacob
Genesis 29:18
Leah – Tender eyed
Rachel – Beautiful
Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah
Jacob loved Rachel
Rachel stole her father’s gods. Sold her husband’s “services” for mandrakes
Leah entered the promised land and is buried with the family
Rachel died en route and was not buried with the ancestors

Dinah – Jacob’s daughter
Genesis 34
Hedge of protection – Sometimes we crawl through that hedge
Raped when she sneaked away from her home to go see the nearby city
Results: Two of her brothers killed every man in the city for revenge

Tamar
Genesis 38
Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law. Her husband died. Judah said he would give Tamar to his younger son when he came of age. (Complex story, please read for more details.) Judah didn’t do this. Tamar dressed as a harlot and became pregnant with twins by Judah.
Judah said her actions were more righteous than his. She is one of four women named in the genealogy of Christ.

Potiphar’s Wife
Genesis 39
Falsely accused Joseph of trying to rape her. He was sent to prison.
We aren’t told the end results but Joseph was exalted to a position of power. No one ate unless they came to Joseph. She was probably (like Joseph’s brothers) fearful that he might seek revenge